She lived within a stone's throw of her kids, her grandson and had plans to enjoy her retirement there with her husband of 25 years, Peter.

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Fiona Backler died from bowel cancer three months after being diagnosed at the age of 55

Yet her daughter Lauren is convinced, had she lived 600 miles further north in Scotland, she would still be alive today.

For on December 2, 2014 Fiona was diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer, within three months she was dead.

She was 55 years old - a few days shy of turning 56.

Determined to make sense of her loss, Lauren began to look for answers.

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The mum-of-three noticed a change in bowel habits about six months before she was diagnosedCredit: Lauren Backler

In England, screening for bowel cancer begins at 60, yet across the border in Scotland it starts at 50 - and is offered every two years until your 74th birthday.

A year to the day after her mum was diagnosed, Lauren, now 27, started a petition calling for the screening age in England to be lowered from 60 to 50 - as it is in Scotland.

SCREENING FROM 50 IS A NO BRAINER - IT COULD SAVE THOUSANDS OF LIVES

THE Sun's No Time 2 Lose campaign is calling for bowel cancer screening in England to start at 50 NOT 60.

The move could save more than 4,500 lives a year, experts say.

Bowel cancer is the second deadliest form of the disease, but it can be cured if it's caught early - or better still prevented.

Caught at stage 1 - the earliest stage - patients have a 97 per cent chance of living for five years or longer.

But catch it at stage 4 - when it's already spread - and that chance plummets to just seven per cent.

In April, Lauren Backler, whose mum died of the disease at the age of 55, joined forces with The Sun to launch the No Time 2 Lose campaign, also supported by Bowel Cancer UK and Beating Bowel Cancer. Donate here.

Lauren delivered a petition to the Department of Health complete with almost 450,000 signatures, to put pressure on the Government to make this vital change - one that could save thousands of lives every year, and the NHS millions.

We all deserve an equal chance to beat this disease, regardless of where we live.

We know bowel cancer is more likely after the age of 50 - so it makes sense to screen from then.

Plus, it's got to save the NHS money in the long-run, catching the disease before patients need serious and expensive treatments.

She is taking her petition, complete with more than 420,000 signatures to Westminster, to plead with Theresa May to take action to make sure other families don't have to face what hers has.

Even if they had found it a year earlier, she would have had a fighting chance. But as it was, she had no chance

Lauren Backler, bowel cancer campaigner

"It's not right that where you live can mean the difference between life and death," she said. "But it did for my mum.

"If screening happened at 50 in England, mum would've had not one screening test but two, that's two chances to pick up her cancer.

"Even if they had found it a year earlier, she would have had a fighting chance. But as it was, she had no chance."

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Lauren is calling on the Government to lower the bowel cancer screening age to 50 - to give more than 4,500 people every year a fair chance at beating the diseaseCredit: Lauren Backler

Bowel cancer is the UK's 2nd deadliest form of the disease, after lung cancer - but one that can be cured if it's caught in the early stages.

If you're diagnosed at stage one, you have a 97 per cent chance of surviving five years or more.

At stage four that chance plummets to just seven per cent.

The symptoms of bowel cancer you need to know - and when to go to the GP

Lowering the screening age in England is a move charities say could save more than 4,500 lives in the UK every year.

Lives of people like Fiona, a wife, mum, gran and daughter - a carer to her elderly mum.
An activities co-ordinator at a care home who organised curry nights, Bingo, sing-alongs and arts and crafts sessions for the residents.

So dedicated, she would visit Sainsbury's twice a week before work to collect its out-of-date flowers to make arrangements to brighten up the home.

A school governor who organised summer fetes and Christmas fairs for the kids.

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Fiona and her husband Peter were married for 25 yearsCredit: Lauren Backler

It was towards the end of 2014 when Fiona found herself going back and forth to her GP.

She'd noticed a change in her bowel habits and was feeling tired, but had put it down to her busy lifestyle.

After several months doctors referred her to hospital with suspected kidney stones.

97 - 97 per cent of people diagnosed in the earliest stages will survive for five years or more

7 - only seven per cent survive when diangnosed at the latest stage

60 - 83 per cent of people who get bowel cancer are over the age of 60

50 - it's more common over the age of 50 but ANYONE can get bowel cancer, you're never too young

2,500 - the number of under 50s diagnosed each year

268,000 - people living with bowel cancer in the UK

The then 55-year-old took herself off to A&E at her local hospital.

"I remember that call with mum so vividly," Lauren said. "She told me she didn't feel right and was going to A&E.

"She said waiting there she felt a fraud around people with broken legs, she said she didn't think she should be there.

"But she was diagnosed with bowel cancer there and then.

"It was three weeks before Christmas."

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Fiona, an activities co-ordinator at a care home, was diagnosed with bowel cancer just before Christmas in 2014Credit: Lauren Backler

Fiona was diagnosed at stage 4 - the most advanced stage of the disease - a sign it had already spread to her liver.

Despite finding out there and then, the mum-of-three chose not to break the news to Lauren over the phone, rather waiting until the weekend when her daughter was home from London, where the trained actress was working in a Christmas grotto at Westfield shopping centre.

"I should've realised something was wrong as soon as they picked me up from the station," Lauren, now a primary school teacher recalled.

"Dad looked crestfallen, but I was just full of it, telling him how amazing my new job was.

"When I sat down I saw both their faces and knew something was wrong.

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Lauren says by lowering the screening age to 50 thousands of families could be spared the heartache her family has faced

"Mum just said to me, 'I have got something to tell you and you've got to be brave'.

"I thought something had happened to my grandma, it hadn't even crossed my mind it could be mum."

Fiona began chemotherapy straight away, but by her second appointment doctors broke the news her cancer was terminal.

"It was all really quick," Lauren said. "The chemo was palliative, to give her more time."